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Hyderabad-based agritech startup Our Food raised $6 million (around Rs 45 crore) in its growth round. The funding round is led by existing investor 3Lines Venture Capital and a new investor, C4D Asia Fund. Lalit Jalan, 3Lines India Chairman and ex-CEO of Reliance Infrastructure, will join the company’s board of directors. Intellecap served as the exclusive advisor for this transaction, the company stated.

With the fresh infusion, the startup, which has innovative, low-cost, and decentralised mini food processing units, plans to ramp up operations, increase manufacturing capacity and improve the agricultural food supply chain that sees an estimated $5 billion worth annual post-harvest wastage in India. 

Founded in 2016, by IIM-A alumnus Bala Reddy, Our Food is a technology-driven agribusiness platform, disrupting the traditional centralised food processing industry by establishing a network of “Farmer Franchises” that deploy new age, low-cost micro-processing units with the help of rural entrepreneurs to process the raw material at the farm gate. 

Over 1,700 rural entrepreneurs have licensed Our Food Farmer Franchises, each operating a regional crop-specific processing unit that procures and processes raw material from over a hundred farmers from nearby villages. Our Food has a presence across 13 states in India, primarily concentrating in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Karnataka. The company has processing units for over 15 crops, including pulses, cereals, spices, groundnut, and plans to expand its crop portfolio.

“The majority of the value gained from pre-processing, reducing post-harvest wastage, and supply chain disintermediation is shared between the franchise operator and the farmer that supplies the unprocessed harvest”, said Bala Reddy, Founder and CEO of Our Food. 

“This capital infusion will help us boost our capacity to over 6,000 operational franchises, gives us the right ammunition to significantly disrupt the food processing industry and position us for an IPO in 2024”, he added. 

“Our Food value proposition is a triple play for the rural youth who operate franchises, for farmers who can increase their income through direct supply, and for the business buyers who can offer higher quality to their consumers”, said Lalit Jalan. “Our Food has seen a growth of over 100x in its decentralised processing over the last two years, signalling a disruptive trend in mini food processing.”

“In-house design and manufacturing of the processing units, coupled with financing and buyback guarantee of the produce, has set up Our Food to become a pan India company in no time”, said Arvind Agarwal, CEO, C4D Partners.